England's long-awaited T20 International series in Pakistan begins on Tuesday night at the National Stadium in Karachi, the first of seven (yes, seven) matches over the next 13 days.
It will be the joint longest ever bilateral T20 international series - men's or women's - and the longest between full member nations: Malawi hosted Mozambique for seven men's and women's seven T20Is in November 2019.
While only previous full member T20I. There was a five-match series between India and South Africa Women in October 2019, when a sixth T20 was added after the second and third matches were abandoned due to rain.
As per the Future Tours program for 2018-23, the series was initially scheduled to consist of five ODIs before the February-March 2023 World Cup in India, but when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the 2020 T20 World Cup to be postponed.
When moved, they were converted to T20Is. Go back to October-November 2022 and the 50-over World Cup back to October-November 2023.
Last year, the ECB had pulled out of a proposed tour of Pakistan at short notice, citing concerns about the mental and physical well-being of the players, despite the fact that the men's team had a four-day stopover in Lahore. Only two T20Is were to be played as part. On its way to the T20 World Cup.
Then ECB Chief Executive Tom Harrison and Deputy Chair Martin Darlow visited Lahore in November 2021 to meet PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja and discuss the circumstances of his return, leading to Raja suggested that Pakistan had been "used up.
And bound by the "Western Bloc" of cricket.
During the trip, the Boards agreed to add two more T20Is to the schedule for the series, with the two teams playing their respective matches.
The squad will look to reshuffle to ensure key players stay fit and fresh ahead of the T20 World Cup next month.
"Seven games will be a challenge," said Jos Buttler, who will only make his comeback from a calf injury sustained during the tour of Lahore. "Some of them are additionally one after the other so we will attempt to deal with our crew meanwhile.
"There are some bowlers we need to look after. We need to expose them and match them but we don't need to take unnecessary risks."England coach Matthew Mott said: "Initially I thought seven games would be a lot here but I think it's actually played out in our favour.
We've got some games for the lads coming back. can and we'll get it. It's going to be interesting to see different guys under pressure in this series."
The two teams will also play their eighth match against each other shortly before the tournament, in an official ICC warm-up match at the Gabba on October 17.
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